Methods and systems for application integration and macrosystem aware integration

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for system agnostic technologies allowing incorporation of APIs from multiple applications as well as integration of APIs from other applications that can assist in the integrations. Methods and systems for using block chain technology to enhance integration record keeping on an application and macro integration level as well as event and performance recording and other advantages. Methods and systems for integrating services between different software systems including integrating a plurality of software systems to enable data transfer between the plurality of software systems, at least one of adding a new software system and updating, removing, or altering one of the plurality of software systems, and dynamically updating other ones of the plurality of software systems based on the at least one of adding the new software system and updating, removing, or altering one of the plurality of software systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of Invention

Exemplary embodiments relate to methods and systems for system agnostictechnologies allowing incorporation of application programminginterfaces (APIs) from multiple applications to perform integrations andautomation of a plurality of software systems. More particularly,exemplary embodiments relate to methods and systems for using blockchain technology to enhance integration record keeping.

2. Description of Related Art

Business typically use a wide variety of commercial softwareapplications for different purposes and operations such as, e.g.,financial, human resources, sales management, email, e-commerce, andmany other such systems. Different resources and specialized personnelmay be needed to install, maintain and integrate these systems as wellas to reconfigure the systems with updates occur that may result inthese systems no longer functioning due to changes and resultantcompatibility changes. As a result of the challenges and opportunity, anumber of tools are provided to help integrate and automate thesedisparate systems. Currently available products offer SaaS-basedsolutions for integration of disparate office systems. To facilitatesoftware integrations, standards such as the Enterprise Service Bus(ESB) has been used for on-premises integration. In addition, servicessuch as iPaaS and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) have been developedfor cloud-based integrations. Some enterprise integrations involve acombination of ESB and iPaaS. The Hub-Spoke model from Infosys typicallyprovides the ability to download the spoke environment locally. Theseplatforms provide local modules which can connect back to the cloudserver; however, the implementation of the inventive system makes use ofother technologies than are described in this patent; namely, machinelearning, artificial intelligence (AI), bots, natural languageprocessing (NLP), and block chain.

SUMMARY

Despite the availability of the above-discussed applications, a highdegree of technical expertise remains required to provide softwareintegration and automation of disparate enterprise systems. Integrationcan be understood as the coupling of two or more connected systems toallow the flow of data and other information between the two connectedsystems. Exemplary embodiments bridge a gap between the organizationalrequirements to integrate the enterprise software without the cost andlogistical issues of scheduling specialists each time a specific newenterprise product is purchased, or requires changes in configurationand/or an error or adjustment in the configuration needs to beremediated, requiring the technical proficiencies that are otherwiserequired.

Exemplary embodiments provide a platform that offers advantages in thefollowing areas: 1) Low- or No-Code Business Application Integration; 2)Conversation artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) in thecontext of Business Application Integration; and 3) use of blockchain orother ledger technologies to enable record keeping associated with theintegration efforts.

Exemplary embodiments include system agnostic technologies allowingincorporation of application programming interfaces (APIs) from multipleapplications as well as integration of APIs from other applications thatcan assist in the integrations (bot, other low/no code technologies,data visualization, ticketing and others). Other exemplary embodimentsinclude the use of block chain technology to enhance integration recordkeeping on an application and macro integration level as well as eventand performance recording and other advantages

In exemplary embodiments, advantages of using a blockchain to storeintegration and update information include decentralization, where withthe digital ledger that is blockchain, transactions can occur quicklyand securely anywhere in the world. Transaction can be completed acrossthe world, and because the blockchain cannot be tampered with, andbecause it is a direct A to B relationship to make the transaction,there is a level of trust that would not be otherwise available withoutsome third-party or central authority verifying that trust. Accordingly,no broker or notary may be necessary to ensure that the transactiontakes place as intended. Another advantage of blockchain is cost savingas intermediaries such as trust verifiers are no longer necessary.Another advantage of blockchain is the reduction of fraud andtraceability of transactions and the documents involved. Becauseblockchain records are literally a chain, it is easy to trace atransaction block by block between parties to a transaction.

Additional advantages and novel features of these exemplary embodimentsmay be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in partmay become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination ofthe following or upon learning by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods may bedescribed in detail, with reference to the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamic softwareintegration and/or automation in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a list of pre-existing connectors,according to various exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a plurality of connected systems, accordingto various exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a plurality of integrations, according tovarious exemplary embodiments;

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate various steps of the creation of an integrationbetween two services, according to various exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a blockchain registry, according to variousexemplary embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a general illustration of components ofan information handling system;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an environment including an integrationflow design tool, according to exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating operation of integrated servicesaccording to various exemplary embodiments;

FIGS. 10A-10B are flowcharts describing a plurality of servicesperformed as part of an integration process, according to variousexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an example network architectureincluding an example artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversationalquerying (CQ) platform, according to exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 12 illustrates a cloud computing node, according to exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 13 illustrates a cloud computing environment, according toexemplary embodiments; and

FIG. 14 illustrates abstraction model layers according to exemplaryembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

These and other features and advantages are described in, or areapparent from, the following detailed description of various exemplaryembodiments.

It may be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on,”“connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly on,connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements thatmay be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being“directly on,” “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to anotherelement, there are no intervening elements present. As used herein theterm “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. Further, it may be understood that when a layeris referred to as being “under” another layer, it can be directly underor one or more intervening layers may also be present. In addition, itmay also be understood that when a layer is referred to as being“between” two layers, it can be the only layer between the two layers,or one or more intervening layers may also be present.

It may be understood that, although the terms “first”, “second”, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions,layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layersand/or sections may not be limited by these terms. These terms are onlyused to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or sectionfrom another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a firstelement, component, region, layer or section discussed below may betermed a second element, component, region, layer or section withoutdeparting from the teachings of exemplary embodiments.

In the drawing figures, the dimensions of layers and regions may beexaggerated for clarity of illustration. Like reference numerals referto like elements throughout. The same reference numbers indicate thesame components throughout the specification.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exemplaryembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It may be further understood that the terms“comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which exemplary embodiments belong. Itmay be further understood that terms, such as those defined incommonly-used dictionaries, may be interpreted as having a meaning thatis consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art andmay not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein. As used herein, expressions such as “atleast one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire listof elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

When the terms “about” or “substantially” are used in this specificationin connection with a numerical value, it is intended that the associatednumerical value include a tolerance of ±10% around the stated numericalvalue. Moreover, when reference is made to percentages in thisspecification, it is intended that those percentages are based onweight, i.e., weight percentages. The expression “up to” includesamounts of zero to the expressed upper limit and all valuestherebetween. When ranges are specified, the range includes all valuestherebetween such as increments of 0.1%. Moreover, when the words“generally” and “substantially” are used in connection with geometricshapes, it is intended that precision of the geometric shape is notrequired but that latitude for the shape is within the scope of thedisclosure. Although the tubular elements of the embodiments may becylindrical, other tubular cross-sectional forms are contemplated, suchas square, rectangular, oval, triangular and others.

Reference may now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like referencenumerals refer to the like elements throughout. In this regard, thepresent embodiments may have different forms and may not be construed asbeing limited to the descriptions set forth herein. Accordingly, theembodiments are merely described below, by referring to the figures, toexplain exemplary embodiments of the present description.

Exemplary embodiments may include a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out exemplary embodiments.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform exemplary embodiments.

Exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computerreadable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamic softwareintegration in accordance with exemplary embodiments. In exemplaryembodiments, the method starts at step S110 where the integration of aplurality of services is performed. In exemplary embodiments,integration and/or automation is performed by connecting a plurality ofsoftware systems via connectors, the connectors being, e.g.,applications, application programming interfaces (APIs), orconversational/robotic process automation (RPA) bots, allowing users tostring together and orchestrate bots with their applications. An API isa set of programming instructions and standards for accessing aWeb-based software application or Web tool. Details of prebuiltconnectors are provided in FIG. 2 , which illustrates a list ofpre-existing connectors, according to various exemplary embodiments. Inexample embodiments, connectors may include databases, automationplatforms, chatbots, custom systems, and software applications (bothcloud and on premise).

In exemplary embodiments, the connectors may have prebuilt actions, andevents associated with the prebuilt actions. In exemplary embodiments,an event may happen in a system such as e.g., the creation of a bug, theupdating of a record, or the sending of an email. In exemplaryembodiments, an action is something that is to be done in a system, suchas, e.g., creating a record or running a process. In exemplaryembodiments, events and actions may be interchangeable.

In exemplary embodiments, a connected system is a specific instance of aconnector. For example, while the system comes with a ServiceNowconnector, a user may need to connect multiple different connectedServiceNow instances. Each of these instances may be a connected system.In exemplary embodiments, the systems currently connected can beillustrated. In example embodiments, allowing multiple connected systemsfor a given connector may allow end users to connect to multipleinstances or servers of the same software. Example connected systems areillustrated in FIG. 3 , according to various exemplary embodiments.

Integration Features: In exemplary embodiments, each integration that iscreated may be run at the interval specified during creation (in realtime, hourly, or daily). As integrations run, requests may be made toboth source- and target-connected systems in order to identify eventsand perform actions. In exemplary embodiments, transactions may bestored and/or reported for analysis. For example, transactions reportingincludes determining the amount of data being transmitted from oneservice to another after the integration between the two services iscomplete. In exemplary embodiments, the transactions may be reported andstored in the blockchain as discussed above.

In exemplary embodiments, the system design may include the following:i) Event Driven—In exemplary embodiments, system components communicatethrough a common event log as opposed to through APIs to maximizescalability and performance, reduce system complexity and increase indevelopment speed; ii) Serverless Technologies—As much as possible, thesystem may use serverless technologies and containers to maximizescalability and performance while keeping costs low; iii)Micro/Nanoservices—In exemplary embodiments, the system is designed as aseries of small components, each with their own functionality. Thecomponents communicate primarily through the event log. As part of theintegration, a number of services may be performed during step S110.

In exemplary embodiments, instructions for the integration of aplurality of services may be input by a user via low-code programming.Low-code programming is a visual development approach to applicationdevelopment. Low-code enables developers of varied experience levels tocreate applications for web and mobile, using drag-and-drop componentsand model driven logic through a graphic user interface. The exemplaryembodiments allow the use of low- and no-code tools to provide the userwith the ability to effect integration without the requirement forprofessional coding skills. In addition, exemplary embodiments includesbot connecting technology that allows the platform to operate in concertwith a variety of different bots that provide integration instructionsto the platform of the exemplary embodiments. Accordingly, integrationof a plurality of services may be performed both via input from a useror automatically based on the state of other services, as discussedabove. The exemplary embodiments enable switching between the bottechnology and the low- or no-code programming so as to enablecontinuity of programming and integration efforts without regard to thesystem being used. To further advance their platform-agnostic nature,the exemplary embodiments allow compatibility with APIs of othercommercially available chatbots, which provides the ability for theplatform to work with a wide a variety of different bots using theplatforms bot connector technology that communicates events and actionsfor each bot. Such other commercially available chatbots may includeproducts such as those based on Google Dialogflow, Amazon Lex, MicrosoftBot Framework (RASA), Samsung Bixby and others. Example embodiments mayalso allow communication between different bots. Bots can be provided bythird-party companies and integrated with the inventive system throughthe use of their APIs.

In exemplary embodiments, the method at step S120 monitors theintegration of all the services being integrated, or that are part ofthe integration. For example, the sending of an email or instructionsreceived via a chat box may be the event that initiates an integration,while the very same email or chat box entry may be a result of theaction of another integration. In exemplary embodiments, both theseintegrations are being monitored to determine whether the integrationhas been properly launched, or performed, or terminated, and whetherdata can flow freely form one connected software system to another.

In exemplary embodiments, monitoring of integration being performedduring step S120 includes using different database structures, includingcloud and on-premise options. For example, individual enterprisesolutions may use a variety of databases which the platform can accessduring the integration of the various services. In exemplaryembodiments, the platform may use a variety of different databaseoptions that provide dynamic tracking and integration history storageand retrieval such as, e.g., AWS Dynamo, Blockchain, S3 and ServerlessRDS. Other state-based dynamic systems such as graph-database Moogsoftmay also be used in the exemplary embodiments.

In exemplary embodiments, the method at step S130 determines, at aplatform level, whether one of the connected software systems beingintegrated has been updated, removed, or altered, or whether a newsoftware system has been integrated to the already connected softwaresystems. In exemplary embodiments, if none of the connected softwaresystems are removed, updated or otherwise changed, or if no new softwaresystems have been connected to the already connected software systems,the method returns to step S120, where the platform continues monitoringthe integrated software systems.

In exemplary embodiments, if at step S130 the platform determines thatone or more of the connected software systems has been removed, updatedor otherwise changed, or that one or more new software system has beenconnected to the already connected software systems, the methodcontinues to step S140.

In exemplary embodiments, the method at step S140 determines which otherones of the connected software systems, if any, have to be updated,altered or removed, or whether a new software system needs to be addedto the integration platform, as a result of the determination at stepS130 that one or more of the connected software systems has beenremoved, updated or otherwise changed, or that one or more new softwaresystem has been added to the integrated software systems. In exemplaryembodiments, if the method at step S140 determines that none of theconnected software systems have to be updated, then the method returnsto step S120, where the platform continues monitoring the integratedsoftware systems. In exemplary embodiments, if the method at step S140determines that one or more of the connected software systems have to beupdated, then the method continues to step S150.

In exemplary embodiments, the method at step S150 performs necessaryupdates on any software system that may be updated or otherwise alteredor changed as a result of the determination at step S130 that one ormore of the connected software systems has been removed, updated orotherwise changed, or that one or more new software system has beenadded to the integrated software systems.

As an example of the above-described flow chart, the system mayperiodically check (step S120) connected systems for improper edits(steps S130 and S140), and automatically correct them (step S150). Inexemplary embodiments, the user may configure for notifications to besent upon the identification of bad data and/or to not autocorrectissues if needed. In exemplary embodiments, transactions may also bestored in a blockchain ledger or registry for data integrity. Inexemplary embodiments, the blockchain registry lists the transactionsthat are or have been logged for each block.

Exemplary embodiments include a code base that is configured to offerpersistent monitoring of each, or of one or more, integration duringstep S120. Exemplary embodiments also provide the ability to dynamicallyadapt and recommend changes that may be needed when one change is madein the system and others need to be made to accommodate the change so asto maintain data continuity. The code base may exist both in the cloudas well as residing on premises for software that is deployed internallywithin companies. Supplement existing services with a layer of customcode is provided to enable fine-tuned integration specificfunctionality. For example, using a platform according to exemplaryembodiments for integrating with a ticketing system like ServiceNow, theplatform may implement “smart” integration to automatically updateworkflows inside of ServiceNow, or change the service-level agreements(SLAs) for ticket due dates, or update the email settings of the system.Accordingly, a greater degree of intelligent orchestration capabilitiesmay be afforded.

In exemplary embodiments, the platform is configured to effectuate macrochanges and rapidly reconfigure integrated services by making use of anew logic, derived from detected updates in one or more of the services,and this new logic may become embedded in each of the integrations so asto have, e.g., built-in parameters and relationships, or a taxonomy ofintegrations. Accordingly, changes or additions to various services maybe logically implemented with greater coordination, and issues that mayoccur if each integration was merely changed or updated individuallyfrom the rest of the services, without the coordination afforded by theexemplary embodiments may be avoided. In exemplary embodiments, anapplication code may be injected throughout each integration, theapplication code taking into account and managing some or all of thesystems on the platform, and coordinating the integration of some or allof the systems, thus ensuring a seamless integration of all the systemson the platform. Thus, the exemplary embodiments afford the ability toconfigure and develop connected applications or systems, whether opensource or proprietary, instead of merely integrating them. As a result,the platform according to exemplary embodiments provide the ability tomake platform changes inside of the connected systems, which may enablean end-user to move beyond simple integration and to perform deeper,programmatic integrations. For example, such programmatic integrationsmay include building a ServiceNow Application inside of a connectedServiceNow instance using the conversational platform offered by thisinvention.

In exemplary embodiments, to add additional capabilities of the method,a platform configured to implement the method may provide an API and canbe integrated with tools that facilitate enterprise integration (such asSalesforce, IBCO, Boomi, Informatica, Talend, Adeptia, Cleo, Axway,Jitterbit, Spring, Amazon Web Services (AWS)). In addition, the systemcan be integrated with systems that provide additional enterprise ITmanagement capabilities such as Moogsoft as well as virtual machinesoftware and on-premise management software packages.

Exemplary embodiments can make use of menu-based bots (also known aschatbots), where users select a path based on a menu of options that thebot delivers to the end user. The platform according to exemplaryembodiments exposes connected enterprise systems as Bots. The Botsexpose connected systems as bots where users can perform actions such asadding a new service, removing an existing service or altering anexisting service through the use of speech. NLP Bots, which rely onnatural language processing to interpret free text and make use ofintent and entity extraction, interpretation and mapping to functionalactions involving software integration. In the case of NLP bots, a usermay ask natural language questions in a dialog box, i.e., to a virtualdeveloper, and an answer may be provided back to the user based oninformation available in the integrated systems. If more specifics arerequired to formulate the answer, the user may be prompted forclarifications. Such mapping can be further informed and refined by bothmanual input and refinements to machine learning systems coupled withrules-based algorithms that define software specific systems as well asgeneral logic that is generically applicable to a wider range ofsoftware systems. Examples of connected services is provided in FIG. 3 .

In exemplary embodiments, the platform may also refine its machinelanguage (ML) models through the use of aggregate integration datacoupled with curated outcomes data (such as self-reported feedback ofthe integration, sentiment analysis (both automated and/or manual) ofbot correspondence and objective measures of integration efficacy suchas results of log-files, data validation, and any violation or help deskissues that occur after an integration). These machine learning modelswill be paired with rules based systems when appropriate to createensemble models with greater accuracy. Integration with tools such asServiceNow which is a ticketing tool that processes and catalogscustomer service requests, providing reporting data on incidents,changes, problems, and other services using tools like ServiceNow.ServiceNow integration can enable quantitative and qualitative feedbackfrom ServiceNow and other ticketing and integration services.Integration can be understood as the coupling of two or more connectedsystems or the addition of a new service, removal of an existing serviceor alteration of an existing service, and FIG. 4 is an illustration ofintegrations, according to various exemplary embodiments. In exemplaryembodiments, when one of the connected systems is integrated to another,other systems may be automatically and dynamically updated to ensurethat all the systems remain integrated together, and to avoid errors infile transmission or in integration due to, e.g., the update of onesystem rendering the system incompatible with another system.

An example of the creation of an integration or process automation via achatbot is illustrated in FIG. 5A, according to various exemplaryembodiments. In exemplary embodiments, integration encompassesintegrating software systems that were not previously integrated,addition of a new service to integrated software systems, removing anexisting integrated software system, or altering an existing integratedsoftware system. In FIG. 5A, the integration starts when a command 510to, e.g., “create an integration” is entered in the chat box. The usermay not need to enter that exact command, as the NLP algorithms caninterpret the meaning of natural language. For example, a user may say“I want to create a process automation”, or “let's make an integration”,or “I want to automatically integrate ServiceNow with Jira”, etc. Inthese examples, the system may still understand that the user wants tocreate an integration and begin the creation process. In response, thesystem according to various exemplary embodiments enters into aninteractive exchange to identify which origin service to integrate. Inthe illustrated example, the origin system is identified as“ServiceNow.” FIG. 5A illustrates the integration of files fromServiceNow to allow documents to flow from ServiceNow to anotherservice, in this case Google Cloud Storage. In exemplary embodiments,the system request entry 530 of one or more target services. When thetarget service is entered in chat box 540, in exemplary embodiments, themethod may request clarification of whether the integration isunidirectional of bidirectional in chat box 550. Unidirectionalintegration is when integration is from only one service to another. Forexample, unidirectional integration of documents from ServiceNow toGoogle Cloud Storage is the integration of documents only fromServiceNow to Google Cloud Storage but not from Google Cloud Storage toServiceNow. Bidirectional integration between ServiceNow and GoogleCloud Storage allows the flow of documents from ServiceNow to GoogleCloud Storage as well as from Google Cloud Storage to ServiceNow. Inexemplary embodiments, the directionality of the integration can beentered in chat box 560. In exemplary embodiments, the method may alsorequest entry of the frequency of integration, e.g., real time, hourlyor daily, in the chat box.

In exemplary embodiments, although the above integration parameters areentered in a piecemeal fashion by successive prompts, the entireintegration parameters may be entered in one continuous line of naturallanguage instruction. A greater discussion of the configuration ofchatbots providing information in a conversational environment isprovided below with respect to FIG. 11 .

In exemplary embodiments, the system may also provide the capability offurther escalation to a consultative human-based developer to resolveintegration challenges. To further the ability to offer bi-directionalexchange between the end-user and the platform according to exemplaryembodiments, the system also offers dynamic question-answer (QA)regarding the integration process and integration status, as well asvalidation and violations and other integration metrics. This dynamic QAleverages machine learning models trained on aggregate user behavior toanswer frequent user queries. As violations and errors occur, the systemmay report to end-users, notify them through email with recommendationsfor fixes, and attempt to auto correct the issue when appropriate. Usersmay be able to enable or disable any of these violation features. Thisdynamic QA can make use of the Integration Platform as a Service (IPaaS)and other standards for dynamically recording system status andintegrations such as IT service management (ITSM) and others.

The platform according to exemplary embodiments can also provide higheraccuracy of the NLP by enabling the ability to transverse a taxonomy ofvocabulary associated with integration tasks at different levels orsteps of the integration as well as consideration of differententerprise software packages.

In exemplary embodiments, if the intent and/or entit(ies) cannot bedetermined from instructions entered by a user, the NLP can suggest theclosest matches from a library, or enable manual low- or no-coding. Thisstep can also occur during an integration if/when the system or theend-user determines that it is useful to switch modality from NLP to lowor no code. In exemplary embodiments, a low-code wizard may be availablefor record creation. Both the core chatbot and the low code wizard aresynchronized with respect to user inputs so that a user can start aprocess through one and finish through another. In addition, while notpreferred, a simple excel-like language of functions can be used whencomplex mappings are required such as string substitutions oraggregations. In exemplary embodiments, low code is a visual approach tosoftware development which abstracts and automates every step of theapplication lifecycle to enable rapid delivery of a variety of softwaresolutions. For example, a low code approach allows developers to dragand drop application components, connect them together and create, e.g.,an application.

In exemplary embodiments, NLP is coupled with Chatbot technology toenable text and/or voice based interaction with the system. Manytraditional enterprise platforms offer the ability to switch between lowcode and traditional coding views. This instead offers the ability toswitch between conversational and low code views. One advantage of thesystem is that it may improve in its NLP over time both in aggregate andas well as improving individual integration performance. The system canlearn from low-code activities and use the interactions with NLP ascompared to low-code interactions to offer additional training to the MLsystem and through the use of feedback generated from the data regardingthe disparity between the NLP interpretation and the low-codespecifications, system training and feedback may occur. Hence, theplatform according to exemplary embodiments may better translate theuser's instructions using ML with more accurate interpretation of theuser's intent. Hand-tuning and interpretation of the platform canfurther advance its accuracy. The combination of low-code and chatbotinterfaces may allow users to rapidly bring about hyper automationtransformations to their businesses by delivering RPA and integrationtechnologies.

Exemplary embodiments can also allow for the discovery, also referred toas self-discovery, of APIs either through incorporation of standardizedAPI catalogs or through a self-discovery process of making use oftest-cases and examining inputs/outputs and validating the API and itssubsequent integration. Exemplary embodiments provide the opportunity todiscover and integrate multiple APIs from a comprehensive range ofenterprise business software platforms.

API discovery can be further advanced with the inclusion of mappingintent to natural language commands. In this way, the system can expandin compatibility with enterprise software systems with or without humanintegration efforts either through direct software engineering betweenthe enterprise systems or engineering of the platform according toexemplary embodiments that affords such integration.

In exemplary embodiments, the platform may be hosted on premises, i.e.,on a computer used to perform the integration, on the cloud accessibleremotely by a plurality of computers, and inside low code platforms,e.g., as an application inside of a service. In the case of a low codeinside of a platform, the integration platform may be built as anapplication on top of the existing low code platform. An example may beconfiguring the platform as an application that can be installed in aservice such as Appian, Salesforce, or ServiceNow.

FIG. 5B illustrates a user interface displaying the result of anintegration, according to various exemplary embodiments. In exemplaryembodiments, the origin service 575 and the target service 580 aredisplayed, and the integrated fields 585 are mapped, e.g., automaticallymapped. In exemplary embodiments, the display also includes thefrequency of integration 590. In exemplary embodiments, if the systemdoes not automatically map the fields and leaves some unmapped fields595, then the fields 595 may be manually mapped if such mapping isnecessary or beneficial to the successful integration of the originservice 575 and the target service 580. In addition, users may manuallyupdate automatically configured mappings to fine tune integrations andautomations. This can be done during the creation process or later toupdate an existing integration.

Exemplary embodiments includes bot connecting technology that allows theplatform to operate in concert with a variety of different bots thatprovide integration instructions to the platform of the exemplaryembodiments. Accordingly, integration of a plurality of services 580 maybe performed both via input such as, e.g., inputs 530 or 550, from auser or automatically based on the state of other services 580. Theexemplary embodiments enable switching between the bot technology andthe low- or no-code programming so as to enable continuity ofprogramming and integration efforts without regard to the system 580being used. To further advance their platform-agnostic nature, theexemplary embodiments allow compatibility with APIs of othercommercially available chatbots, which provides the ability for theplatform to work with a wide a variety of different bots using theplatforms bot connector technology that communicates events and actionsfor each bot.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a blockchain registry, according to variousexemplary embodiments. In a blockchain network, or distributed ledger,all network participants have access to the distributed ledger and itsimmutable record of transactions. With this shared ledger, transactionsare recorded only once, eliminating the duplication of effort that istypical of traditional business networks. If a transaction recordincludes an error, a new transaction must be added to reverse the error,and both transactions are then visible. In addition, in a distributedledger, no participant can change or tamper with a transaction after thetransaction has been recorded to the shared distributed ledger. Adistributed ledger is a database that is consensually shared andsynchronized across multiple servers, institutions, or geographies,accessible by multiple people. It allows transactions to have public orprivate witnesses depending on the specific blockchain implementation(for example, Hyperledger chains permit for transactions to be securedto certain parties via channels). The participant at each node of thenetwork can access the recordings shared across that network and can ownan identical copy of it. Any changes or additions made to the ledger arereflected and copied to all participants in a matter of seconds orminutes. A distributed ledger stands in contrast to a centralizedledger, which is the type of ledger that most companies use. Acentralized ledger is more prone to cyber-attacks and fraud, as it has asingle point of failure, and generally requires a trusted third party,which is not always desirable. A distributed ledger is a database thatis synchronized and accessible across different sites and geographies bymultiple participants; the need for a central authority to keep a checkagainst manipulation is eliminated by the use of a distributed ledger;underlying distributed ledgers is the same technology that is used byblockchain; a distributed ledger can be described as a ledger of anytransactions or contracts maintained in decentralized form acrossdifferent locations and people; and cyber-attacks and financial fraudare reduced by the use of distributed ledgers.

In exemplary embodiments, the platform may host its own blockchain, inwhich case a user may keep private transactions secure and privatelystored, or may post externally hosted blockchains, which may be privateor public. Consensus protocols may also be used to ensure that dataremains synchronized between the distributed ledgers. In exemplaryembodiments, the blockchain storage may also allow the system tofunction as a configuration management database (CMDB) or eveninformation technology service management (ITSM) system, by storing aledger of all configuration items and tickets as they move betweenowners or through various stages of their processes and lifecycles. Aconfiguration management database (CMDB) is a database that contains allrelevant information about the hardware and software components used inan organization's IT services and the relationships between thosecomponents. IT service management (ITSM) is a set of policies, processesand procedures for managing the implementation, improvement and supportof customer-oriented IT services. These database and policy systems mayafford standards that can be used in the block chain recording ofevents, specific integrations (both macro-system changes and individualenterprise settings and integrations) and dynamic changes that canoccur. Other database and policy system nomenclature or standards can beincorporated into the block chain for recording/audit and dynamicinterrogation purposes to enhance the dialog between the end-user andthe provision of current and historical system and application status.Moogsoft and other companies that make use of graph-based databasesprovides a complementary approach to recording the complexity anddynamic nature of the enterprise—using an Operational Database (OMDB).The OMBD is based on the current state of the environment like aNavigation Map. Such databases can be coupled with the securemethodology of blockchain to provide the advantage of dynamicstate-based enterprise status representation along with the permanentledger and audit capabilities that block chain affords.

In exemplary embodiments, an overall blockchain implementation mayinclude core blockchain, external nodes and external blockchains. Thecore blockchain may store the system transactions, external nodes of theblockchain implementation may allow users to create their own internalblockchain nodes, and the exemplary system may be configured to useexternal blockchains as a ledger. In exemplary embodiments, blockchainmay record all systems configurations and integrations that are part ofthe platform with time-stamped changes contemporaneously as they occurin the system. The blockchain may also be used to record event logs forboth the integration platform and the events logs that each individualenterprise software system may generate. Furthermore, the blockchain maydynamically record performance measurements of the system as well assnapshots and changes in user permissions, user-based integrationchanges, and other platform and individual software interventions.Furthermore, system tests and validity checks may be recorded with theblockchain technology

In exemplary embodiments, the inclusion of blockchain may also providerecord keeping associated with specific needs of individual enterprisesoftware packages that a business may be using. In exemplaryembodiments, the platform may enable ease of integration of blockchainthrough the use of conversational-AI/low code/no code interface so thatsoftware may benefit from the ledger capabilities of blockchain, forexample enabling blockchain to integrate and record financialtransactions such as, e.g., e-commerce, or payroll. Blockchain may alsokeep records associated with the relative success of the integrationtechnology. For environments where multiple contracts may take place incontemporaneous or near-simultaneous fashion (e.g., currency exchange,deed recording, contract management, and the like), blockchain mayprovide additional value in both recording and enabling interrogation oftransactions in a secure and distributed fashion. In exemplaryembodiments, Blockchain may replace the need for CMDB or ITSM in termsof the system or the blockchain annotation format.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a general illustration of components ofan information handling system. FIG. 7 is a generalized illustration ofan information handling system 100 that can be used to implement thesystem and method of the present invention. The information handlingsystem 100 includes a processor (e.g., central processor unit or “CPU”)1102, input/output (I/O) devices 1040, such as a display, a keyboard, amouse, and associated controllers, a hard drive or disk storage 1060,and various other subsystems 1080. In various embodiments, theinformation handling system 100 also includes network port 1100 operableto connect to a network 1140, which is likewise accessible by a serviceprovider server 1142. The information handling system 100 likewiseincludes system memory 111, which is interconnected to the foregoing viaone or more buses 1141. System memory 111 further comprises operatingsystem (OS) 1116 and in various embodiments may also comprise ananalytics workflow generation system 1118.

The analytics workflow generation system 1118 performs an analyticsworkflow generation operation. The analytics workflow generationoperation enables generation of targeted analytics workflows created byone or more data scientists, i.e., experts in data modeling who aretrained in and experienced in the application of mathematical,statistical, software and database engineering, and machine learningprinciples, as well as the algorithms, best practices, and approachesfor solving data preparation, integration with database managementsystems as well as file systems and storage solutions, modeling, modelevaluation, and model validation problems as they typically occur inreal-world applications. These analytics workflows are then published toa workflow storage repository so that the targeted analytics workflowscan be used by domain experts and self-service business end-users tosolve specific classes of analytics operations.

More specifically, in certain embodiments, an analytics workflowgeneration system 1118 provides a user interface for data modelers anddata scientists to generate parameterized analytic templates. In certainembodiments, the parameterized analytic templates include one or more ofdata preparation, data modeling, model evaluation, and model deploymentsteps specifically optimized for a particular domain and data sets ofinterest. For example, a particular business such as an insurancecompany may employ data-scientist-experts as well as internalcitizen-data-scientist customers for those expert-data-scientists whomay perform specific repeated data pre-processing and modeling tasks ontypical data files and their specific esoteric data preparation andmodeling requirements. Using the analytics workflow generation system1118, a data scientist expert could publish templates to addressspecific business problems with typical data files for the customer(e.g., actuaries), and make the templates available to the customer tosolve analytic problems specific to the customer, while shielding thecustomer from common data preparation as well as predictor and modelselection tasks. In certain embodiments, the user interface to createanalytic workflows is flexible to permit data scientists to select datamanagement and analytical tools from a comprehensive palette, toparameterize analytic workflows, to provide the self-service businessusers the necessary flexibility to address the particular challenges andgoals of their analyses, without having to understand data preparationand modeling tasks.

Next, in certain embodiments, the analytics workflow generation system1118 provides self-service analytic user interfaces (such as web-baseduser interfaces) so that self-service users can choose the analyticworkflow templates to solve their specific analytic problems. In certainembodiments, when providing the self-service analytic user interfaces,the system 118 analytics workflow generation accommodates role-basedauthentication so that particular groups of self-service users haveaccess to the relevant templates to solve the analytic problems in theirdomain. In certain embodiments, the analytics workflow generation system1118 allows self-service users to create defaults for parameterizations,and to configure certain aspects of the workflows as designed for (andallowed by) the data scientist creators of the workflows. In certainembodiments, the analytics workflow generation system 1118 allowsself-service users to share their configurations with other self-serviceusers in their group, to advance best-practices with respect to theparticular analytic problems under consideration by the particularcustomer.

In certain embodiments, the analytics workflow generation system 1118manages two facets of data modeling, a data scientist facet and aself-service end-user facet. More specifically, the data scientist facetallows experts (such as data scientist experts) to design data analysisflows for particular classes of problems. As and when needed expertsdefine automation layers for resolving data quality issues, variableselection, best model or ensemble selection. This automation is appliedbehind the scenes when the citizen-data-scientist facet is used. Theself-service end-user or citizen-data-scientist facet then enables theself-service end-users to work with the analytic flows and to applyspecific parameterizations to solve their specific analytic problems intheir domain.

Thus, the analytics workflow generation system 1118 enables high-qualitypredictive modeling by providing expert data scientists the ability todesign “robots-that-design-robots,” i.e., templates that solve specificclasses of problems for domain expert citizen-data scientists in thefield. Such an analytics workflow generation system 1118 is applicableto manufacturing, insurance, banking, and practically all customers ofan analytics system 118 such as the Dell Statistica Enterprise AnalyticsSystem. It will be appreciated that certain analytics system can providethe architectures for role-based shared analytics. Such an analyticsworkflow generation system 1118 addresses the issue of simplifying andaccelerating predictive modeling for citizen data scientists, withoutcompromising the quality and transparency of the models. Additionally,such an analytics workflow generation system 1118 enables more effectiveuse of data scientists by a particular customer.

Although the above description refers to retrieving targetedparameterized analytics template from the workflow storage repository,the retrieving being performed by an end-user associated with thecustomer to solve a specific analytics need of the customer, theplatform according to exemplary embodiments is configured to dynamicallyintegrate services based on end-user programmatic instruction.

The following description of FIG. 8 below provides a more detaileddiscussion of an auto-recommender according to various examples.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of environment 100 including an integrationflow design tool, according to some embodiments. Any operation hereinmay be performed by any type of structure in the diagram, such as amodule or dedicated device, in hardware, software, or any combinationthereof. Any block in the block diagram of FIG. 8 may be regarded as amodule, apparatus, dedicated device, general-purpose processor, engine,state machine, application, functional element, or related technologycapable of and configured to perform its corresponding operation(s)described herein. Environment 100 may include user 102, device 104,integration application design tool 110, and systems 120.

User 102 may be a developer or other individual designing, developing,and deploying integration flows using an integration application designtool in an integration platform. User 102 may be a member of a business,organization, or other suitable group. User 102 may be a human being,but user 102 may also be an artificial intelligence construct. User 102may employ, i.e., connect to, a network or combination of networksincluding the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a wireless network, a cellular network, or various other types ofnetworks as would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in theart.

Device 104 may be a personal digital assistant, desktop workstation,laptop or notebook computer, netbook, tablet, smart phone, mobile phone,smart watch or other wearable, appliance, part of theInternet-of-Things, and/or embedded system, to name a few non-limitingexamples, or any combination thereof. Although device 104 is illustratedin the example of FIG. 8 as a single computer, one skilled in the art(s)will understand that device 104 may represent two or more computers incommunication with one another. Therefore, it will also be appreciatedthat any two or more components of device 104 may similarly be executedusing some or all of the two or more computers in communication with oneanother.

Integration application design tool 110 may allow user 102 to designintegration applications that access, manipulate, and otherwise usedisparate technical resources. Integration application design tool 110may provide a graphical design environment so user 102 may build, edit,deploy, monitor, and maintain integration applications. Integrationapplication design tool 110 may provide a drag-and-drop interface thatallows user 102 to leverage pre-built assets, security protocols, APIs,programming languages, and other suitable components. Integrationapplication design tool 110 may standardize access to various datasources, provide connections to third-party systems and data, andprovide additional functionalities to further integrate data from awide-array of organizational and on-the-cloud data sources. Integrationapplication design tool 110 may include user interface components 112,runtime components 114, auto-mapping recommender 116, data 117, andsemantic dictionary 119.

Integration application design tool 110 may allow user 102 to create anintegration flow. Two examples of integration flows are provided below.These integration flows are merely exemplary, however, and one skilledin the relevant arts will appreciate that integration flows may performa vast and expansive array of functions that may differ betweenindividuals and among organizations. Some integration flows mayincorporate dozens or even hundreds of assets into the integrationscenario.

In one example of an integration flow, user 102 may build an integrationscenario that synchronizes data between an enterprise resource planning(ERP) system and a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Suchan integration scenario may receive information about a new customerfrom the CRM system and insert that information into the ERP system toensure that the two systems stay in synchronization. In this scenario,user 102 may add an asset in integration application design tool 110that connects to the CRM system and add a second asset in integrationapplication design tool 110 to connect to the ERP system. The resultantintegration application may then receive a set of fields from the CRMnode and pass these fields via the connection to the ERP system to addthe new customer data in the appropriate format and/or through asuitable API.

In a second example of an integration flow, user 102 may build a healthand fitness integration application. A first asset in such anintegration scenario may connect to a user's watch to retrieve dataabout the number of steps, e.g., from a pedometer, taken in a day by thewatch wearer. In this example, a second asset may record this data intoa database server stored on the cloud for record keeping and analyticgeneration. One skilled in the relevant arts will appreciate that thefirst asset may include a variety of accessible data fields that may ormay not correspond to the data fields used and/or otherwise availablewithin the second asset.

Integration application design tool 110 may further allow user 102 tomap fields from a first asset (the source asset) to fields of a secondasset (the target asset). In other words, a first asset may use datathat may be passed through to a second asset, and user 102 may specifyon a field-by-field basis the appropriate association. To continue theexemplary pedometer example described above, consider an exemplaryschema representing the fields in the source asset (the watch with apedometer): StepDate: smalldatetime; NumberOfSteps: int. The secondasset (the cloud-stored database server), could include a database tablerepresented with the exemplary schema: RelevantDate: date; StepsTaken:big int; TotalDistance: decimal User 102 may select an appropriatemapping between the first asset and the second asset. User 102 mayconfigure StepDate to link to RelevantDate and NumberOfSteps to link toStepsTaken, with TotalDistance remaining unlinked. By configuring theintegration flow thusly, when the integration application executes, itmay initialize the fields in the target asset and populate their valuesusing the relevant fields from the source asset.

As described above, for less trivial cases (e.g., where the assets havemore than the above two or three fields), this may be an extremely timeconsuming endeavor for user 102. For such cases, integration applicationdesign tool 110 may provide an auto-mapping recommendation, described infurther detail below.

User interface components 112 may be employed by integration applicationdesign tool 110 to provide components used by integration applicationdesign tool 110 to render a user interface for view by user 102 viadevice 104. User interface components 112 may include a JavaScript userinterface library to control dynamic interactions between user 102 andintegration application design tool 110. User interface components 112may include a development toolkit facilitating the building of HTML5 ormobile applications. User interface components 112 may allow a businessor organization to upgrade components used by integration applicationdesign tool 110 in order to change the experience for user 102 overtime.

Runtime components 114 may allow an integration application created viaintegration application design tool 110 to function at runtime. In oneembodiment, runtime components 114 may build, assemble, compile, orotherwise create executable object code based on the specifiedintegration scenario. In another embodiment, runtime components 114 maycreate interpreted code to be parsed and applied upon execution. Runtimecomponents 114 may connect to ancillary systems to retrieve, store, andmanipulate data using an appropriate API or other method. Runtimecomponents 114 may include a variety of intermediary hardware and/orsoftware that runs and processes the output of integration flows.

Auto-mapping recommender 116 may be leveraged by integration applicationdesign tool 110 to provide a suggested linking between fields in asource asset and fields in a target asset, i.e. an auto-mappingrecommendation. Auto-mapping recommender 116 may deploy a neural networkto determine appropriate mappings between a field in a source asset(i.e., the input layer) and a field in a target asset (i.e., the outputlayer) using a hidden layer and associated weights. Auto-mappingrecommender 116 may train the neural network to provide more accuraterecommendations over time based on user provided feedback, for example,corrections made by a user to the recommendation, a user acceptance ofthe recommendation, or a user rejection of the recommendation.

Auto-mapping recommender 116 may suggest mappings to user 102 in agraphical representation. Such a graphical representation maydemonstrate connections between the fields of one asset to the fields ofthe second asset with lines, arrows, or other visual connectors.Auto-mapping recommender 116 may further translate recommended mappingsinto a script in an expression or scripting language. Such translationis advantageous because user 102 may view an alternate, textual form ofthe recommendation and make modifications therein. Moreover, the scriptmay subsequently be executed at runtime to link the source fields andtarget fields. Additionally, the script may be updated, either manuallyby user 102 or by auto-mapping recommender 116, to perform additionaldata transformations. For example, a smalldatetime field may betranslated to a date field, a long integer transformed into a floatingpoint number, etc.

Data 117 may be any of a panoply of data storage systems housinginformation relevant to, used in, and stored by integration applicationdesign tool 110 including information about designed integrationscenarios, available assets for deployment, connections, a neuralnetwork employed by auto-mapping recommender 116, etc. For instance,data 117 may be a database management system or relational databasetool. Data 117 may further be a message queue or stream processingplatform such as Apache Kafka or Apache Spark or other data storagesystems like Apache Hadoop, HDFS, or Amazon S3, to name just someexamples. Data 117 may be a data lake, data silo, semi-structured datasystem (CSV, logs, xml, etc.), unstructured data system, binary datarepository, or other suitable repository. Data 117 may store thousands,millions, billions, or trillions (or more) of objects, rows,transactions, records, files, logs, etc. while allowing for thecreation, modification, retrieval, archival, and management of thisdata. In an embodiment, data 117 uses scalable, distributed computing toefficiently catalog, sort, manipulate, and access stored data.

Semantic dictionary 119 may be used by auto-mapping recommender 116and/or integration application design tool 110 to determinerelationships between fields within source assets and the target assets.In one embodiment, semantic dictionary 119 may map words to other wordsexhibiting similar meaning. For example, a field name of “UserName” maybe mapped in semantic dictionary 119 to a field name of “LoginName.”Thus, semantic dictionary 119 may allow auto-mapping recommender 116 toidentify matches among fields in a manner exceeding mere syntacticequivalence. Semantic dictionary 119 may further include a linguisticcorpus or additional annotations used to link field names between assetsand to derive meaning from and make connections between the fields andacross disparate assets.

Systems 120, such as system 120A, system 120B, and system 120C, may bean API, data source or other technical resource or system to be includedin an integration flow. Systems 120 may house data in a number offashions, such as in a suitable data repository, either in a raw form orfollowing (or at an intermediate step within) the application of atransformational capability. Systems 120 may include data lakes, datasilos, message streams, relational databases, semi-structured data (CSV,logs, xml, etc.), unstructured data, binary data (images, audio, video,etc.), or other suitable data types in appropriate repositories, bothon-premises and on the cloud. Just for example, systems 120 may providedata or functionalities by connecting to a CRM system, an ERP system, adatabase, an internet-Of-Things device, a mobile phone, a watch, a JIRAtask list, a revision control system or other code management tool,and/or a multitude of other sources.

In exemplary embodiments, a bot may assist users with their integrationdevelopment. In exemplary embodiments, a user may be able to communicateto the both in natural language and/or low- or no-code developmentenvironments as well as to ask status of the integration involving aspecific component of the enterprise software or other queries of thespecific integration or the global systemic ramifications thereof. Inexemplary embodiments, a bot may identify the intent and redirect theuser to the proper page. For example, if the bot determines the intentis to “create an integration,” the bot may redirect the user to theintegration creation page. In exemplary embodiments, the bot identifiesparameters and automatically fill out data. For example, if a user saysthey want to build a “real time bidirectional” integration, the bot mayautomatically fill out the frequency and bidirectional fields on theintegration form with the relevant values as discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 5A-5B. In exemplary embodiments, the bot may answeruser questions about the meaning of questions or user inputs. Forexample, a user may ask what a bidirectional integration is, and thevirtual developer may reply with an explanation.

Recommendation Engine: In exemplary embodiments, a recommendation enginelearns user behaviors and recommend next actions. Users are able toselect these actions and be appropriately redirected. In exemplaryembodiments, when a user begins typing a value the system mayautomatically complete the text provided the model is sufficientlyconfident. In exemplary embodiments, when brought to a form, therecommendation system may automatically populate values with bestguesses provided the model is sufficiently confident. The recommendationmay provide helpful links and documents for a given task whenappropriate. This may assist the user in the development process withadditional context.

Exemplary embodiments include methods and systems for multi-modalitiesintegration, i.e., unidirectional and bidirectional via any one or moreof speech, chatbot, low code, and no code enterprise integration.

Over the past few decades, computer interfaces have continuouslyimproved from text-based terminals to clunky desktop applications, andfinally to responsive modern user interfaces (UIs). With the rise ofmachine learning and natural language processing, a new option hasappeared as well, the new option being the conversational UI. Withconversational UI, users communicate with a bot or computer programwhich guides users through a series of questions via natural language.Predecessors of conversational UI were effectively just primitive chatbots. Responses to questions needed to be stated according to rigidguidelines or else the computer would not process the request. Withmodern machine learning, it is far easier for computers to identify userintents from speech or text. This is essential for smooth UI due to thevariety of human language.

Intent extraction is part of modern natural language processing and isparticularly well-suited to the domain of software integration. This isbecause there are generally only a few things that need to be known tobuild a software integration: i) the source of the data (defects inJira, table in ServiceNow, SQL column, etc.), ii) the target for thedata (SQL database, a CRM system, etc.), the event in question in thesource system (A bug was filed, a record was created, etc.), iii) theaction that may be taken in the target system (Update a record, send anemail, etc.), and iv) how often may the data move (real-time, hourly,daily, etc.).

With the answers to these questions, exemplary embodiments buildnumerous integrations, robotic process automations, and businessworkflows. An example of this would be an integration to move incidentsfrom ServiceNow to Jira. A user may say “I would like to open a bug inJira for each urgent incident in ServiceNow in real time.” By doing so,a conversational agent may be configured to extract the source, target,event, action, and frequency of the integration, and set it up for theend user. In exemplary embodiments, the source is ServiceNow, the targetis Jira, the event is the “urgent incident,” the action is to open abug, and the frequency is in real time.

In exemplary embodiments, there may be more to building an integrationthan these five data points, and almost everything besides answeringthese questions can be handled by the system automatically. Once theseanswers are known, the software can automatically set up and deployintegrations to move the appropriate data. Likewise, additional softwareto monitor this integration for i) performance, iii) data integrity, andiii) data synchronization may also be automatically constructed anddeployed.

Using Machine Language (ML) and Conversational ML in Integrations

Exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods include making use oflanguage to enable integration without deep technical knowledge that isusually needed to effect enterprise software integrations. Naturallanguage processing enables the ability to move from speech totext-based conversion. In addition, higher level language understandingis needed to enable useful dialog between natural language commands andthe integration efforts. In order to effect these changes, the platformaccording to exemplary embodiments makes use of intent and entityextraction and utilization.

Exemplary embodiments make of intent-based ML to facilitate softwareintegrations and hyperautomation. An intent represents the purpose of auser's input. Exemplary embodiments include a platform to map an intentfor each type of user request to the API and applications supported.Coupling entity extraction in the natural language processing (NLP) ofthe invention enables a term or object that is relevant to your intentsand that provides a specific context for an intent. In the platformaccording to exemplary embodiments, example intents include addingconnected systems and building or modifying integrations. The naturallanguage interface can also be extended to allow users to query theirdata in addition to building integrations for their data. The ML used bythe platform according to exemplary embodiments makes use of an ensembleof deep neural networks and decision/dialogue tree models. At runtime,both the rules based decision tree and ML methods may be usedsimultaneously or contemporaneously, and a confidence score may becalculated for each based on previous user experiences. Whichever methodreturns a higher confidence may be used to select the appropriateresponse to the end user. In certain cases, the range of allowableresponses may be so narrow that ML may not need to be used at all, anddecision trees may be configured to provide the full suite offunctionality.

Exemplary embodiments can also enable mapping of intent to entities thatmay be pre-defined in the platform either by manual coding or byautomated discovery or application programming interface (API) discoveryprocess that can automatically map the functionality of the API alongwith the possible functional manipulations which are possible with givenentities. The intent-matching step is the initial “fuzzy” step, wherethe bot attempts to understand what the user is trying to do in general.Example intents include adding connected systems and building ormodifying integrations. Each intent may have a desired or predeterminedparameters associated therewith, which the bot attempts to identify byprompting the user(s) for the specific values of each parameter (slotfilling). When possible, machine learning is used during slot filling toavoid a user having to memorize specific terms or vocabulary. If theparameters are expressed in the initial intent, the bot may beconfigured to directly extract them and avoid the need for additionalprompts. For example, a user may state they want to build an integrationand also detail many of the specifics of that integration in a singleutterance.

A greater discussion on machine language is discussed herein. Machinelanguage systems and methods for building software applications mayinclude a knowledge base, an application scenario player, a serviceconnector, presentation components, and underlying systemcomponent-services. In exemplary embodiments, instead of using “almostnatural language,” users can communicate directly in natural languagewith the platform. In exemplary embodiments, the integration and use ofspeech affords the opportunity for the speech to interact simultaneouslyor contemporaneously with integrations and a systematic, orchestratedintegration service that can contain dedicated code both on a macrolevel, i.e., for all systems involved via, for example, the cloud, aswell as the individual enterprise software level and on-premise level.Furthermore, the system affords a dynamic query capability of all ofthese systems for question and answer and escalation of these questionsto a ticketed system to enable human intervention if and when needed.Exemplary embodiments create an agnostic speech interface for inclusionof different third-party, and/or more specialized bots, as well asintegration of different code or low-code systems. Exemplary embodimentsprovide added flexibility due to the use of speech to interrogate theactual end-user data itself and its ability to work with a wide range ofapplication APIs that can be auto-discovered and exposed to thespeech/bot interface. In exemplary embodiments, the controlledvocabulary and use of ML allows to refine the relationship betweenintent and entity extraction on an aggregate basis, e.g. to optimizeboth a single tenant system or globally using these insights across allsystems, as well as enhance individual profiles by learning fromintegration success and proxies for success, sentiment analysis ofcommunications and human-based training and audit review.

In exemplary embodiments, technology which can be utilized in theplatform according to exemplary embodiments may include, e.g., GoogleDialogflow. Dialogflow is an end-to-end, “build-once deploy-everywhere”development suite for creating conversational interfaces for websites,mobile applications, popular messaging platforms, and IoT devices.

Predictive analytics to optimize integrations—Exemplary embodimentsinclude the use of algorithmic and predictive integration to enablesystematic integration. While the programmatic features of the systemafford the ability to directly integrate using the APIs of the variousenterprise software systems, there is also the opportunity to make useof the software driven integration platform that the invention canenable. Exemplary embodiments provides a software-based integrationplatform that both contains a rule-based integration decision tree whichcan provide higher likelihood of successful integrations withoutviolation of methods and connectivity which result in invalid data flowas well as systematic methods of monitoring for software error ‘codes’from either the enterprise software or the inventive integrativeplatform. In addition, the platform can perform tests to validate properdata integration as well as running preventive and workflow diagnosticsto provide use case and test case based testing.

In exemplary embodiments, predictive analytics can be provided thatadapts and optimizes changes in when updates or changes occur in onesystem, integration changes are automatically adjusted to accommodatethese changes without need for human intervention. Such predictiveanalytics can be a combination of a hierarchical rule-based systemand/or machine learning system that affords insights that can be eitherdirectly translated into integration changes or offered to the end-useras recommendations or alerts to consider before or after making a changein the integration.

System Awareness through the use of Domain SpecificChatbots—Alternatively, the platform can make use of specializedChatbots that have domain specific language and algorithms that arespecific for particular tasks and/or particular enterprise systems.

Recommendations and demonstration of different code paths—Exemplaryembodiments may learn from the selected option selections as well asfeedback from the system (including violation notices, analytics,measures of data integrity) to better recommend these suggestions toindividual users and organizations. This capability is aimed to providemany of the fields entered and options selected in the system.

The platform according to exemplary embodiments also makes use of macroinformation, meta-data and other data sourcing (including aggregate userdata, single tenant specific and end-user data) in creatingrecommendations. Exemplary embodiments can also effectively create ahierarchy of chatbots in at least the following ways:

1. Integrating with external chatbots: Integrated systems may containchatbots or be chatbot systems, in which case the platform can redirectusers to specific chatbots when appropriate based on the user's context.

2. Exposing APIs as chatbots: The system may be configured to exposediscovered APIs as chatbots. For any given API, there is a set ofrequired and optional fields. When combined with the context of thepurpose of each API, the platform may be configured to generate a uniquechat experience for each connected API, even if those APIs do notnormally have chatbots associated with them.

3. Custom Bots: End users may be able to create custom bots using thelow/no-code and conversational interfaces by creating questions,intents, and slots. The system may be configured to forward user frombot to bot as needed, combining all of their capabilities to enrich theuser experience.

Extracting Analytics Workflows using Conversational artificialintelligence (AI)—The platform according to exemplary embodiments canalso provide bi-directional insights/communication through automatedtesting, recommendations and other data that is informed by systemstatus and analysis of meta-data that is generated from the platformaccording to exemplary embodiments and the enterprise use. The platformaccording to exemplary embodiments, is also configured to show analyticsworkflows both of the platform itself as well as the constituententerprise software packages that make up the integrated system of anorganization.

The platform according to exemplary embodiments can also serve toprovide the following functionality: i) Automated testing of workflowsand end-point confirmation analysis; ii) Performance monitoring and datasynchronization; iii) Field level mapping recommendations—based on priorintegrations, integration logic, feedback from customers on integrationsuccess—based on pre-programmed intent-based logic, taxonomy andrule-based algorithms; iv) Q&A for common user questions.

In exemplary embodiments, smart integration may include automaticallyperformed tasks, or tasks performed based on a given environment suchas, e.g., automatically updating workflows, code, softwareconfigurations, and automatically updating various services such asemail and the like. In exemplary embodiments, smart integrations mayallow for full-fledged application development in connected systems.

In exemplary embodiments, the system may learn from the selected optionsto better recommend them to individual users and organizations. This maybe the case for the majority of fields entered and options selected inthe system.

Permissions and Recommendations: Different users of a given instance ofthe system can have different permissions. For example, platform ownersmay choose to let all users be able to integrate with ServiceNow, butonly let some integrate with S3. In addition, the recommendation engineis configured to learn individual user and organizational behavior topower recommendations. Blockchain is configured to record in a ledgerthe different permissions and individual integrations of each user inthe system.

In exemplary embodiments, updates to the platform, or other platformchanges, may be performed inside the connected systems. In embodiments,applications can be built inside connected services using a dialog boxsuch as discussed above with respect to FIGS. 5A-5B. For example, themethod may include building a ServiceNow application inside of aconnected ServiceNow service. The following is a greater discussion onworkflow generation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating operation of integrated servicesaccording to various exemplary embodiments. The services according tovarious exemplary embodiments may be described in belonging to three (3)categories: 1) User-Facing services, 2) Monitoring services, and 3)Integration services.

In exemplary embodiments, the User-Facing services include a VirtualDeveloper 1, a Wizard 2 and a Recommender 3 all connected via a Bus 4.The Virtual Developer 1 includes a ML- and AI-powered NLP bot configuredto answer user questions, fill out forms, and build integrations andbots on behalf of the users. The Virtual Developer 1 may respond to userrequests and may automatically configure records according to the user'snatural language requests. In exemplary embodiments, the Wizard 2, orlow-code integration builder service, may be leveraged by end users toconstruct new integrations and robotic process automations (RPAs). TheWizard 2 may include a serverless front end and an operational datastore, and may store configurations made by users through either theVirtual Developer 1 or the low-code interfaces. In exemplaryembodiments, the Recommender 3 is configured to observe user behaviorand to recommend appropriate next actions leveraging deep learningtechnologies. The Recommender 3 may leverage sentiment analysis toensure that users are having an optimal experience. The Recommender 3may reach out to multiple different NLP services in order to obtain themost accurate predictions for any scenario. In exemplary embodiments,the Virtual Developer 1, Wizard 2, and Recommender 3 may all shareinformation to stay in sync with respect to user inputs.

In exemplary embodiments, the Bus 4, or Event Bus 4, is configured toorganize traffic between the different services, i.e., between theUser-Facing services, the Monitoring services, and the Integrationservices.

In exemplary embodiments, the Monitoring services include a DataIntegrity service 5, a Performance Monitoring service 6, and a Miningservice 11. In embodiments, the Data Integrity service 5 mayperiodically check systems for anomalous updates, and may handle themappropriately. Users may choose for the system to notify them and reporton issues to allow for manual correction instead of automaticcorrection. Users may be able to choose to let the errors beauto-corrected, or to manually handle the errors. The Data Integrityservice 5 may also notify end users of any issues that may arise withrespect to the integrity of the data. In embodiments, the PerformanceMonitoring service 6 may monitor transactions to identify increases inlatency or system crashes. Once these issues are identified, thePerformance Monitoring service 6 may alert other services to, e.g., toslow down in order to preserve performance. Should the latency vanish,the Performance Monitoring service 6 may alert other services that it issafe to continue operation at normal loads. In exemplary embodiments, inthe event of external system crashes, the Performance Monitoring service6 may alert other systems to temporarily pause their attempts tocommunicate with the crashed system until it is safe to restart them. Inexemplary embodiments, the Mining service 11 may perform variousfunctions such as, e.g., monitor external event logs to identifybusiness processes by correlating the timings and dependencies ofvarious events, identify portions of identified processes that can beeasily automated by the platform and inform end-users of this discovery,and build automations/integrations for these identified portions.

In exemplary embodiments, the Integration services include a Listeningservice 7 configured to monitor traffic for incoming events. Dependingon which integration they want the data to initiate, different endpointsmay be flagged on the Listening service 7. In embodiments, theIntegration services may include a Polling service 8 configured toregularly check external systems for updates and events. The Pollingservice 8 may achieve this by starting multiple processes to make theappropriate request types, such as rest, soap, or Java DatabaseConnectivity (JDBC). In embodiments, the Integration services mayinclude a Transformation service 9 configured to transform event data tobe suitable for a user's desired action. The transformation process ishandled by the Transformation service 9, which is configured to convertfiles from one type to another according to the mapping logicautomatically configured by the system or manually configured by theuser. In embodiments, the Integration services may also include aPushing service 10 which, once data is ready to be sent, makes requeststo external systems to perform the actions specified by the relevantintegrations. This is accomplished, in exemplary embodiments, throughmultiple parallel processes configured to make the appropriate requesttypes to external systems.

In exemplary embodiments, the User-Facing services, the Monitoringservices, and the Integration services may be connected to a BlockchainLedger 12, where transactions from the Integration services discussedabove may be persisted to the Blockchain Ledger 12 to provide adistributed transaction storage. Such persistence may provide a higherdegree of immutability and may allow end users to control their data. Adescription of the flow of the above services is provided below withrespect to FIGS. 10A-10B.

FIGS. 10A-10B are flowcharts describing a plurality of servicesperformed as part of an integration process, according to variousexemplary embodiments. In FIG. 10A, the method may perform polling atstep S210. In exemplary embodiments, the polling service may regularlycheck external systems for updates and events. The method may alsoperform listening at step S220. In exemplary embodiments, some systems,such as those using webhooks, may choose to push events instead of havethem polled. For these systems, a listening service is installed whichmonitors traffic for incoming events. The method may further performtransforming at step S230. In exemplary embodiments, the event data maybe transformed to be suitable for the action. This transformationprocess is handled by a transformation microservice.

In FIG. 10A, the method may perform pushing at step S240. Once data isready to send, a pushing microservice makes requests to external systemsto perform the actions specified by the relevant integrations. Themethod may also monitor performance at step S250. In exemplaryembodiments, a performance monitoring service watches transactions toidentify increases in latency or system crashes. Once identified, theservice alerts other services to slow down in order to preserveperformance. If the latency vanishes, the service may alert others thatit is safe to continue at normal loads. Performance monitoring at stepS250 may also include monitoring external event logs to identifybusiness processes by correlating the timings and dependencies ofvarious events, identifying portions of identified processes that can beeasily automated by the platform and inform end-users of this discovery,and building automations/integrations for these identified portions. Themethod may further monitor data integrity at step S260. In exemplaryembodiments, a data integrity service may periodically check systems foranomalous updates and handle them appropriately. Users are able tochoose to let the errors be auto corrected or manually handled. Inaddition, the system may notify end users of issues.

In FIG. 10B, the method may perform recommendations at step S270. Inexemplary embodiments, a recommendation service may observe use behaviorand recommend appropriate next actions leveraging deep learningtechnologies. The recommendation service may leverage sentiment analysisto ensure users are having an optimal experience. The method may alsoperform virtual development at step S280. In exemplary embodiments, abot responds to user requests and automatically configure recordsaccording to the users ‘natural language requests. The method mayfurther perform integration building at step S290. In exemplaryembodiments, the integration builder service is leveraged by end usersto construct new integrations out of connected systems, events, andactions. The method may also use machine learning at step S295. Inexemplary embodiments, the system may host its own machine learningalgorithms to power the recommendation engine and virtual developer andalso reach out to external machine learning commodities to enhanceperformance. In exemplary embodiments, through the event log andimmutable blockchain ledger, the system may also be configured toservice as a source of truth for audits and data integrity purposes. Inexemplary embodiments, through the previously detailed data integrityand performance monitoring services, the system may be configured toidentify and correct performance and data issues as they occur,eliminating the need for manual intervention. In exemplary embodiments,for security purposes, the system may be single tenant and multiinstance. Each customer may have their own version of the system to use,which contains their own data.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an example network architectureincluding an example artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversationalquerying (CQ) platform, according to exemplary embodiments. FIG. 11 is afunctional block diagram illustrating example network architecture 100configured to provide querying of one or more content sources 128 via anautomated interactive conversational environment, according to exemplaryembodiments. Network architecture 100 may include conversationalquerying (CQ) platform 1002, client device 108 associated with user 106,administrator console 1161 associated with administrator (admin) 1114,at least one live agent server 1200 associated with live agent 118,analytics server 122 and one or more content sources 128. Each of CQplatform 1002, client device 108, administrator console 1161, live agentserver 1200, analytics server 122 and content source(s) 128 may compriseone or more computing devices, including a non-transitory memory storingcomputer-readable instructions executable by a processing device toperform the functions described herein.

Although the description herein describes network architecture 100having one client device 108 and one administrator console 1161, in someexamples, network architecture 100 may include one or more clientdevices 108 and/or may include one or more administrator consoles 116.Moreover, although the description herein describes network architecture100 having one live agent 118 in communication with one live agentserver 1200, in some examples, network architecture 100 may include oneor more live agents 118 and/or one or more live agent servers 120. Insome examples, live agent 118 may communicate with live agent server1200 directly. In some examples, live agent 118 may communicate withlive agent server 1200 via a separate computing device (not shown), suchas a desktop computer, a laptop, a smartphone, tablet, a live agentconsole device or any other computing device known in the art that isconfigured to communicate with live agent server 1200 and client device108.

CQ platform 1002, client device 108, administrator console 1161, liveagent server 1200, analytics server 122 and content source(s) 128 may becommunicatively coupled via at least one network 1041. Network 1041 mayinclude, for example, a private network (e.g., a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), intranet, etc.) and/or a publicnetwork (e.g., the internet). In general, CQ platform 1002 may provideserver-side functionality via network 1041 to user 106 associated withclient device 108.

Client device 108 may comprise, without being limited to, a desktopcomputer, a laptop, a notebook computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, atablet, a portable digital assistant (PDA), a multi-processor system, amicroprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronic device, or anyother communication device that user 106 may utilize to interact with CQplatform 1002, content source(s) 128 and live agent server 1200. User106 may interact with client device 108, for example, via a graphicaluser interface (not shown) displayed on any type of display deviceincluding, without being limited to a computer monitor, a smart-phone ormobile phone screen, tablet, a laptop screen, a consumer device screenor any other device providing information to user 106. In general,client device 108 may include any suitable user interface, user inputcomponent(s), output component(s), and communication component(s) forinteraction with CQ platform 1002, live agent server 1200 and websiteshaving one or more web pages (including, in some examples, websitesamong content source(s) 128).

Client device 108 may include web client 1101 (e.g., a browser, such asthe Internet Explorer™ browser developed by Microsoft™ Corporation andone or more Client applications 113. Client applications 113 may includea web browser, a messaging application, electronic mail (email)application, and the like.

While the client-server-based network architecture 100 shown in FIG. 11employs a client-server architecture, the present disclosure is ofcourse not limited to such an architecture, and could equally well findapplication in a distributed, peer-to-peer, architecture system, or anyother networked environment. Further, in some examples, the networkarchitecture 100 may be deployed using a virtual private cloudincluding, for example, frontend sever(s), backend server(s), anddatabase server(s) in the cloud.

Administrator console 1161 may comprise, without being limited to, adesktop computer, a laptop, a notebook computer, a smartphone, a mobilephone, a tablet, a portable digital assistant (PDA), a multi-processorsystem, a microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronicdevice, or any other communication device that administrator 1114 mayutilize to interact with CQ platform 1002 and analytics server 122.Administrator 1114 may interact with administrator console 1161, via agraphical user interface (not shown) displayed on any type of displaydevice. Administrator 1114, via administrator console 1161, may beconfigured to interact with intent analysis system 136 of CQ platform1002, such as for training of intent analysis system 136. Administrator1114, via administrator console 1161, may also be configured to interactwith analytics server 122, such as for analysis of the performance of CQplatform 1002 with various users.

Live agent server 1200 may be configured to communicatively connect user106 associated with client device 108 with live agent 118, for humaninteraction with live agent 118 via a live chat. In general, live agentserver 1200 may receive a request from CQ platform 1002 to initiate alive chat between user 106 of client device 108 and a live agent amonglive agent(s) 118 associated with live agent server 1200. The requestfor a live chat may include user information (e.g., user name, emailaddress, internet protocol (IP) address, etc.), information regarding atype of service requested for the live chat (e.g., service related to anaccount, purchasing, pending orders, technical questions, etc.) and ahistory of automated conversational querying between user 106 and CQplatform 1002. In some examples, the type of service requested may beassociated with different agents 118. For example, an account typeservice may be assigned to a first live agent (such as a customersupport expert) and a technical question service may be assigned to adifferent, second live agent (such as a technical support expert). Liveagent server 1200 may identify a suitable live agent 118 based on theinformation received in the request for live chat from CQ platform 1002,and may initiate connection between the selected live agent 118 andclient device 108.

As discussed further below, chat bot 132 of CQ platform 1002 maygenerate an instance of a chat bot interface 150 on one or more websitesdisplayed on client device 108 (e.g., via web client 1101). Chat botinterface 150 (also referred to herein as bot interface 150) may includean option for user 106 to request to chat with live agent 118 (e.g., byselecting a ‘Contact Support’ option in a selectable menu on chat botinterface 150). Chat bot interface 150 may allow user 106 to contactlive agent 118 directly without navigating to any other applications,web pages or websites. In some examples, CQ platform 1002 mayautomatically suggest contact with live agent 118, through chat botinterface 150, based upon user input during automated conversationalquerying and/or through monitoring user actions on website(s). Forexample, chat bot interface 150 may provide a contact support optionwhen a query asked by user 106 is unable to be answered by CQ platform1002 or answered with a confidence below a predetermined threshold.Responsive to user selection of a live chat option (via chat botinterface 150), CQ platform 1002 may generate and send a request toinitiate a live chat to live agent server 1200.

In addition to initiating a connection between live agent 118 and clientdevice 108, live agent server 1200 may be configured to generate a liveagent console display for the selected live agent 118 (e.g., on liveagent server 1200 or on a computing device connected to live agentserver 1200). Live agent console display 1500 may be configured todisplay information related to the user (including information in thereceived request), generally illustrated as user information region1502. Live agent console display 1500 may also provide live agent 118the ability to access to additional information from among contentsource(s) 128 for responding to user 106. Live agent console display1500 may also provide an interface for live agent to chat with user 106,generally illustrated as chat area 1504. In general, a live agentconsole display may provide suitable information and data in one or moreinteractive windows to allow live agent 118 to communicate and provideinformation to user 106.

Live agent server 1200 may also be configured to provide the live chatbetween live agent 118 and client device 1101 via chat bot 132, throughchat bot interface 150. Thus, upon user selection of a live chat option(by user 106) and selection of live agent 118 (via live agent server1200), chat bot interface 150 may display the available (selected)agent, and user 106 may start chatting with live agent 118 through chatbot interface 150. In some examples, live agent 118 may transfer thelive chat to a different live agent, for example, via live agent consoledisplay 1500. For example, the first live agent 118 may be a customerservice expert, and may determine that user 106 has a technical questionthat may be better answered by a second live agent that is a technicalservice expert. The first live agent may contact the second live agentvia live agent server 1200, transfer information associated with theuser during the live chat (e.g., information displayed on live agentconsole display 1500) to the second live agent, and transfer theconnection to client device 108 from the first live agent to the secondlive agent.

Because the live chat is provided via chat bot 132 of CQ platform 1002,CQ platform 1002 may continue to monitor user communications and updateits records during the live chat. Such monitoring may allow CQ platform1002 to update its algorithms for automated conversational querying, toreduce instances of handoff to live agent server 1200. Such monitoringmay also allow CQ platform 1002 to provide a seamless transition fromthe live chat with live agent 118 to automated conversation withinternet 132.

In a non-limiting exemplary embodiment, CQ platform 1002 may beconfigured to communicate with live agent server 1200 using one or morerest application program interfaces (APIs). In some examples, restAPI(s) may be exposed by live agent server 1200 to check for agentavailability, to start and end a live chat, to send and receivemessages, etc. In some examples, CQ platform 1002 may use a live chatapplication, including a cloud-based application.

Analytics server 122 may be configured to receive data collected by CQplatform 1002 (e.g., user input, user request data, response datagenerated by CQ platform 1002, conversation details of automatedconversations with chat bot 132, live chat with live agent 118), and maygenerate one or more metrics based on the received data. Analyticsserver 122 may include dashboard 124 configured to display generatedmetrics and data lake 126 for storing the received data.

Data lake 126 may be configured to store, for example, information anddata collected from CQ platform 1002 relating to automated chats (i.e.,via chat bot 132) and live agent chats (i.e., via live agent 118). Theinformation may include, for example, conversational details (e.g., oneor more user inputs, one or more user intents identified by CQ platform1002, one or more query results obtained by CQ platform 1002) over oneor more automated conversations and/or live chats with one or moreusers. In some examples, the collected information may also include useractions on one or more websites during automated and/or live chatconversations. The collected information may also include, in someexamples, feedback from user 106 (received, e.g., via client device 108and/or via chat bot 132) relating to CQ platform 1002. In some examples,the collected information may also include messages from client device108 directed to live agent server 1200. In general, data lake 126 may beconfigured to store data/information of any size, shape and speed. Datalake 126 may include a database or datastore that stores a massive scaleand variety of data in its native raw state and/or in an interpretedstate. For example, as CQ platform 1002 generates raw data, that rawdata may be stored within data lake 126 for later consumption, use, orinterpretation by analytics server 122. Data lake 126 may includemultiple separate databases and/or datastores that together make up datalake 126, or data lake 126 may be a singular datastore.

Dashboard 124 may be configured to provide an interactive user interface(e.g., for display on a display device) for displaying various metricsassociated with the collected information/data stored in data lake 126.

In some examples, analytics server 122 may include a structured querylanguage (SQL) server for managing and processing the information/datastored in data lake 126. In general, analytics server 122 may beconfigured to process and analyze the stored information/data acrossvarious platforms and various languages. Analytics server 122 mayinclude an analytics module (not shown) for creating dashboard 124.

Content source(s) 128 may be embodied on one or more computing deviceshoused in one or more related or independent facilities that areconfigured to include information/data that may be useful to user 106.Some content source(s) 128 may store information associated with user106 (e.g., account information). Other content sources(s) 128 mayinclude information unrelated to user 106 (e.g., a website associatedwith electronics distribution). In general, content source(s) 128 mayinclude one or more of databases, servers, websites (having one or moreweb pages), applications, online communities, blogs, news sites,electronic journals, social networks, etc. Content source(s) 128 mayinclude public resources and private resources.

In one exemplary embodiment, content source(s) 128 may include one ormore of product database(s), order database(s), account databases, andone or more online communities. CQ platform 1002 may include web channel130, chat bot 132, message controller 134, intent analysis system 136,query system 138, one or more databases 140, administrator (admin)portal 142, web server 144, API server 146 and, optionally,authentication server 148. Although not shown, one or more of componentsof CQ platform 1002 may be coupled with a data and control bus. It maybe appreciated that, in some examples, one or more components of CQplatform 1002 may be distributed across one or more locations (e.g.,such as across one or more virtual machines (VMs)) and may becommunicatively connected via one or more networks (not shown).

In general, CQ platform 1002 may be configured to interface with clientdevice 108, to provide an automated conversational querying interface(i.e., a chat bot interface) for communicating with user 106 to identifyquerying intents and to provide results of querying to user 106. CQplatform 1002 may be configured to interface with content sources(s)128, to retrieve relevant content for a query based on the identifiedintent and configure the results for presentation to client device 108.CQ platform 1002 may also be configured to interface with live agentserver 128, to initiate and provide live agent chat to client device vialive agent 118, retrieve relevant content for a query based on theidentified intent and configure the results for presentation to clientdevice 108. CQ platform 1002 may also be configured to interface withanalytics server 122, to provide conversational detail information/datafor further analysis.

Although FIG. 11 illustrates live agent server 1200 and analytics server122 as being separate from CQ platform 1002, in some examples, liveagent server 1200 and/or analytics server 122 may be configured to bepart of CQ platform 1002. In some examples, integration of live agentserver 1200 and/or analytics server 122 into CQ platform 1002 mayimprove the ability of CQ platform 1002 to manage data flow, storage andprocessing of data/information via the components of CQ platform 1002,for improved operation of CQ platform 1002.

In some examples, CQ platform 1002 may be configured as a cloud-basedplatform comprising one or more virtual machines, with the ability toscale the number of virtual machines based on a current load (e.g.,application usage) on CQ platform 1002. In this manner, CQ platform 1002may ensure optimum resource utilization, and CQ platform 1002 may easilyscale up or scale out its resources as the application usage grows. Insome examples, CQ platform 1002 may be configured to supportInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing service.

Web channel 130 may be configured to provide web chat control for CQplatform 1002, to enable communication between chat bot 132 and clientapplication(s) 113 of client device 108. Web channel 130 may include oneor more APIs (such as DirectLine API) that may be exposed, for example,to start a conversation, send a message, receive a message etc.

In an exemplary embodiment, a client component of web channel 130 mayinclude a hypertext markup language (HTML) file with JS and CSS filesincluded in a website associated with CQ platform 1002 (referred to asthe platform website). The JS and CSS files may be included in theplatform web site (avnet.com/huckster.io/element14.com) in an HTMLiframe to enable chat bot 132 in the website. Based on the targetwebsite, the styling may be changed but all of the JS/CSS files mayconnect to the same instance of chat bot 134 deployed by CQ platform1002.

Chat bot 132 may include an artificial intelligence (AI) (e.g., machinelearning) engine configured to conduct an automated conversation withuser 106 via text-based communication such as text messages in a chatinterface. CQ platform 1002, via chat bot 132, may be configured tohandle at least an initial portion of a query session with user 106, forexample, to determine an intent for the query, so that user 106 may beproperly routed to live agent 118 to handle the intent. In other cases,CQ platform 1002, via chat bot 132, may provide sufficient informationor resolution to user 106 without involving live agent 118. In somecases, AI-generated content segments may be distributed throughout achat session.

Chat bot 132 may be configured to generate chat bot interface 150 on webpage(s) of one or more websites, for providing an automatedconversational chat session with user 106. In an exemplary embodiment,chat bot 132 may be configured as a plug-n-play model, such that chatbot 132 may be plugged into any web page, by including an <iframe>within a <div> of an HTML document. Chat bot 132 may be configured tomanage a conversation using one or more dialogs. Each chat with chat bot132 may be associated with a conversation identifier (e.g.,ConversationID). When a user initiates a chat with chat bot 132, aConversationID may be generated. The ConversationID may be used tomaintain a chat history across various websites. Chat bot 132 may beconfigured to read and analyze user input via chat bot interface 150,and generate conversational answer(s) to the user input, by furtherprocessing via intent analysis system 136 and query system 138.

Message controller 134 may be configured to direct messages betweenclient device 108 and internet bot 132. Message controller 134 may postmessages to internet bot 132 (from CQ platform 1002) and may obtainmessages from internet bot 132 (from chat interface 150). Messagecontroller 134 may also be configured to direct messages received frominternet bot 132 to intent analysis system 136.

Intent analysis system 136 may be configured receive a message includinguser input from message controller 134. Intent analysis system 136 maybe configured to identify an intent and entity(s) from the user input.Intent analysis system 136 may transmit the identified intent andentity(s) to query system 138.

Query system 138 may be configured receive the identified intent andentity(s) from message intent analysis system 136. Based on theintent/entity(s), query system 138 may be configured to determinewhether to perform an automated search or to initiate handoff ofcommunication to live agent server 1200. Query system 138 may also beconfigured to perform an automated search of relevant content amongcontent source(s) 128 upon a determination to proceed with the automatedsearch. Query system 138 may also be configured to format any searchresults for display on chat bot interface 150.

Database(s) 140 may be configured to store automated chat conversationdialog for a conversation session. In some examples, database(s) 140 maystore state data related to the conversation dialog (e.g.,ConversationID, user selections, web page/website information, useractions on a web page during the conversation session, etc.) In someexamples, database(s) 140 may store conversation dialog for a live agentchat during the conversation session, as well as any suitable statedata. In some examples, database(s) 140 may include a NoSQL database(e.g., a non-relational or not only relational) database, such as amulti-model NoSQL database. In other examples, database(s) 140 mayinclude a relational database (e.g., a SQL database).

Admin portal 142 may be configured as an interface for communicationbetween admin console 1161 and one or more components of CQ platform1002, including intent analysis system 136. Administrator 1114 mayinteract with one or more components of CQ platform via admin portal142, for example to adjust parameters of intent analysis system (orother components) for identifying intents from user input.

Web server 144 may be configured to interface with client device 108 viaweb client 1101. API server 146 may be configured to interface withcontent source(s) 128 and live agent server 1200 via one or more APIs.

CQ platform 1002 may, optionally, include authentication server 148.Authentication 148 may be configured to authenticate user 106, to enableuser 106 to interact with CQ platform 1002. In some examples, CQplatform 148 may request that user 106 register with CQ platform 1002prior to initiating chat bot interface 150, the first time user 106visits the platform website. CQ platform 148 may store the userinformation in database(s) 140 (for example) upon registration, such asuser identity, email, account information, etc.

FIG. 12 illustrates a cloud computing node, according to exemplaryembodiments. In FIG. 12 , a schematic of an example of a cloud computingnode is shown. Cloud computing node 10 is only one example of a suitablecloud computing node and is not intended to suggest any limitation as tothe scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 10 is capable ofbeing implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forthhereinabove.

In cloud computing node 10 there is a computer system/server 12, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 12 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 12 , computer system/server 12 in cloud computing node10 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limitedto, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28,and a bus 18 that couples various system components including systemmemory 28 to processor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more externaldevices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24, etc.;one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 12. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 13 , illustrative cloud computing environment 50is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 13 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 14 , a set of functional abstraction layersprovided by cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 13 ) is shown. Itshould be understood in advance that the components, layers, andfunctions shown in FIG. 14 are intended to be illustrative only andembodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. As depicted, thefollowing layers and corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and application integration 96.

Implementations of the invention may include a computer system/server 12of FIG. 12 in which one or more of the program modules 42 are configuredto perform (or cause the computer system/server 12 to perform) one ofmore functions of the application integration 96 of FIG. 14 . Forexample, the one or more of the program modules 42 may be configured to:store one or more service connectors configured to connect a softwaresystem to another software system in the data repository, receiveintegration instructions, the integration instructions including atleast one of an origin software system, a directionality of theintegration, the directionality indicating whether the integration isunidirectional or bidirectional, a frequency of integration and a targetsoftware system, and perform the integration using the one or moreservice connectors according to the integration instructions.

While exemplary embodiments have been described in conjunction with theexample features outlined above, various alternatives, modifications,variations, improvements, and/or substantial equivalents, whether knownor that are or may be presently unforeseen, may become apparent to thosehaving at least ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, the exemplaryembodiments, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, notlimiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spiritand thereof. Therefore, exemplary embodiments are intended to embraceall known or later-developed alternatives, modifications, variations,improvements, and/or substantial equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of updatingintegrated software systems, the computer having a processor and a datarepository, the method comprising: integrating a plurality of softwaresystems to enable data transfer between the plurality of softwaresystems; adding a new software system to the plurality of softwaresystems; updating, removing, or altering at least one system of theplurality of software systems based on the new software system;dynamically updating other ones of the plurality of software systemsbased on the updated, removed, or altered at least one system; andtracking transactions between the added new software system or theupdated or altered one of the plurality of software systems and theupdated other ones of the plurality of software systems, wherein thetransactions include determining the amount of data being transmittedfrom one service to another after the integration between the twoservices is complete, and the transactions are stored in a distributedledger, the distributed ledger being a blockchain registry that providesrecording and enables interrogation of the transactions.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the dynamically updating the other ones of theplurality of software systems comprises contemporaneously updating theother ones of the plurality of software systems.
 3. A system forupdating integrated software systems, the system comprising: aprocessor; a user interface functioning via the processor; and arepository accessible by the processor; wherein a plurality of softwaresystems are integrated to enable data transfer between the plurality ofsoftware systems; a new software system is added to the plurality ofsoftware systems; at least one system of the plurality of softwaresystems is updated, removed, or altered based on the new softwaresystem; and other ones of the plurality of software systems aredynamically updated based on the updated, removed, or altered at leastone system, wherein the other ones of the plurality of software systemsare contemporaneously updated based on the at least one of the added newsoftware system and the updated, removed, or altered one of theplurality of software systems, transactions between the added newsoftware system or the updated or altered one of the plurality ofsoftware systems and the updated other ones of the plurality of softwaresystems are tracked, the transactions are stored in a distributed ledgerthat is a blockchain registry that provides recording and enablesinterrogation of the transactions.
 4. The system of claim 3, whereindata related to the transactions is stored in the blockchain registry.5. A computer program product that includes a non-transitory computerusable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computerto update integrated software systems, the control logic comprising:first computer readable program code for integrating a plurality ofsoftware systems to enable data transfer between the plurality ofsoftware systems; second computer readable program code for adding a newsoftware system to the plurality of software systems, and updating,removing, or altering at least one system of the plurality of softwaresystems based on the new software system; third computer readableprogram code for dynamically updating other ones of the plurality ofsoftware systems based on the updated, removed, or altered at least onesystem; and fourth computer readable program code means for trackingtransactions between the added new software system or the updated oraltered one of the plurality of software systems and the updated otherones of the plurality of software systems, wherein the transactions arestored in a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger being ablockchain registry that provides recording and enables interrogation ofthe transactions.
 6. The computer program product of claim 5, whereinthe third computer readable program code means contemporaneously updatesother ones of the plurality of software systems based on the at leastone of adding the new software system and updating, removing, oraltering one of the plurality of software systems.
 7. The computerprogram product of claim 5, wherein data related to the transactions isstored in the blockchain registry.